R.I. panel prepares for vote on education funding formula revisions

Monday

Jan 11, 2016 at 11:15 PM

Linda Borg Journal Staff Writer @lborgprojocom

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — While there seemed to be consensus on the broad goals of a revised school funding formula, there was disagreement over some of the specifics, especially over whether charter schools should get more state aid for school housing costs.

Governor Raimondo's 29-member working group met at Rhode Island College Monday night to discuss revisions to the funding formula before taking a final vote Thursday. Raimondo convened the committee in late October to examine whether the formula is working as intended, especially with regard to special needs students, students learning English and charter schools.

The recommendations include few, if any, substantive changes to the existing formula, which allocates aid to public schools based on enrollments, the level of student poverty and the wealth of the community. Although the proposals are still a work in progress, they do not include special education students or students learning English within the formula.

The draft does say that the state should consider compensating districts for costs associated with enrollment declines due to students signing up for charter schools. It also says that student movement to charter schools (called schools of choice) has "a more significant effect on the budget of traditional districts than other kinds of enrollment decline."

"We don't want to say that school choice hurts the districts," said Stephanie Preston, a vice president of Citizens Bank. "That sends the wrong message."

But Joe Eva Gains, a member of the Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, disagreed: "That statement is absolutely true. I don't think that language should be eliminated."

The most debate occurred over whether the formula should provide additional aid to districts based on their numbers of English language learners.

District superintendents worried that this would result in a redistribution of state aid that would reward districts with large numbers of English language learners and penalize those with smaller numbers. Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian said that the recommendation might lead to a divisive debate between communities that were "winners and losers."

But Adam Ramos, a member of the Bristol Warren Education Foundation, said he thought that the committee had agreed to include English language learners as part of a formula. In the end, the state Department of Education said they would rework the language to address these concerns.

Several committee members said they felt the proposal was short on specific recommendations.

Ramos said the proposal "doesn't provide enough guidance. These are generic statements that don't capture important changes that need to be made."

Committee co-chair Elizabeth Burke Bryant promised that the state Department of Education would pull out more specific recommendations for Thursday's vote.